Archive for November, 2016

“… When Shane Cox began selling his homemade firearms and silencers out of his military surplus store, he stamped “Made in Kansas” on them to assure buyers that a Kansas law would prevent federal prosecution of anyone owning firearms made, sold and kept in the state … The case could reverberate across the country because it cites the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, pitting the federal government’s right to regulate firearms against the rights of states …”

I foresee problems with this.

The Supremacy Clause basically says federal law trumps state law while the Printz case said that states cannot be compelled to enforce federal law. Following this, the ATF could still enforce the NFA in Kansas. Unless there is some other 10th Amendment cases that could be referenced here I don’t believe this tacit is going to work.

SAF is floating the idea that the Trump administration appoint a special prosecutor to go after municipalities which violate gun rights:

“… The Second Amendment Foundation suggested last week that Trump’s attorney general should appoint a “special assistant” in charge of defending gun rights … Among the first potential targets of a special assistant attorney general for gun rights, the group suggested, would be strict gun permitting laws in New York, California, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington DC that require citizens to show a specific need for a gun before being granted a license to carry a firearm in public …”

I like the idea of going on offense with this tactic, but I’m not sure how well it would work. We’ve already had some bad gun laws upheld at the Circuit Court level and any DOJ action would essentially be an attempt to re-litigate cases which our side already lost.

“Rep. Brian Higgins (D-Buffalo) is considering a bid to unseat Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as Minority Leader of the House Democrats, says a source close to the Congressman. Pelosi is weathering a storm of critics following a fourth consecutive loosing election for House Democrats, who have been unable to retake the chamber since Pelosi was ousted as Speaker following the 2010 midterm elections …”

Exchanging Pelosi for Higgins would be a significant change for the Democrats both culturally and ideologically. Higgins’ district represents “the deplorables“. On guns, Higgins has been all over the place. He started out as a D back in ’04, rose to A- in ’08 and went back down to a D this year. This would still be a vast improvement over Pelosi.

While I can see a leadership challenge to Pelosi, I don’t think Democrats are willing to go that far. Then there is the matter of whether the party would want both House and Senate leaders from the same state as Chuck Schumer is jonesing for the Senate spot. I’m not seeing Higgins getting the job.

“… The best data inside the Trump campaign and the RNC had Donald Trump’s chances of winning the presidency as a one-in-five proposition … RNC staffers thought Trump would win 240 Electoral College votes, 30 short of the 270 needed to win … The best data inside the Trump campaign was just as pessimistic …”

Amazing. Even more surprising is that turnout was down a bit this election:

Excitement? Inspired electorate? Voter turnout dipped from 62.3% in 2008 to 57.5 in 2012 to 53 percent and change this year

Republicans remain in control of both houses of Congress, albeit with smaller majorities. Chuck Schumer is set to become Senate Minority Leader next year. He is going to be point-man in blocking NRA’s agenda, especially for SCOTUS replacements.

No matter what the outcome of tomorrow’s election, there is already one clear winner: Senator Jeff Klein. With Senator Jesse Hamilton announcing that he is joining the IDC, Klein will have at least a seven member caucus next year.

This also reinforces my belief that the Republicans are going to lose seats and will have to form a coalition with the IDC again, only they will be in a somewhat weaker position than last time.

CD-18, I agree incumbent Sean Maloney is the favorite to win re-election. The thing about him is I never heard anything good or bad about him. He’s just there, occasionally mentioned in the newspaper at having attending a meeting or something.

“In a visit to Buffalo Wednesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declined to pick a candidate in the hotly contested Senate 60th district race between Democrat Amber Small and Republican Chris Jacobs. “I have not had a conversation in that race,’’ Cuomo said when asked about an endorsement in the Senate 60th race. “Yeah, you know it’s not as simple as saying ‘Democrat, Republican.’ You have to look at the person and you have to look at the person’s positions on issues and you have to look at the person’s background,’’ Cuomo said …”

“In a signal of its resource priorities in the closing days before the Nov. 8 elections, the chief fund-raising apparatus for Democrats in the state Senate has allocated zero dollars for Democrat Amber Small in her bid against Republican Chris Jacobs in the Senate 60th District contest in the Buffalo area. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee, meanwhile, transferred $347,000 to Jacobs during the past three weeks, and allocated an estimated $91,000 to various campaign activities on his behalf …”

The only variable is the voters in a district where registered Democrats out number Republicans almost 2-1.